Lompoc, Ca. December 4, 2012 - At 6:24 am, Santa Barbara County Fire Department
responded to vehicle accident with injuries, located on Highway 246, one mile east of
Tularosa Rd. This is between Lompoc and Buellton on HWY 246.

SBC FD responded two engines, a rescue ambulance and a battalion chief. SBC FD was
assisted by one engine from Lompoc FD, Lompoc PD, SB Sheriff's Department, four
ambulances from American Medical Response and the California Highway Patrol. Air
ambulances were unable to respond due to intense fog in the area.

The accident involved four vehicles. There were a total of ten patients treated at the
scene. Two patients sustained serious injuries, four sustained moderate injuries, and four
sustained minor injuries. All patients were transported to the hospital as of 7am. It took
firefighters 30 minutes to extricate of the patients from one of the vehicles.

Nice straight stretch of road with plenty of visibility and wide shoulders....

COMMENT 350081

2012-12-04 11:24 AM

I guess you missed the part about "...intense fog in the area," -080P. Perhaps the area was foggy at the time of the accident....and people were driving too fast for conditions. It happens a lot.

COMMENT 350083

2012-12-04 11:27 AM

Horrific. Honestly, I wish speed limits everywhere were capped at 20 mph. Take the train or fly for distance travel. Solve a ton of problems. I'm serious. Drastic, hard-to-imagine solutions for problems of the same nature.

A quick recovery for everyone involved.

COMMENT 350093

2012-12-04 11:51 AM

@080 - The accident happened at 6am, there was heavy fog in the area at that time.

COMMENT 350097

2012-12-04 11:58 AM

I was watching a program some years ago with an accident prevention specialist who said that more accidents would be prevented if automakers were required to install a spike in the steering wheel rather than airbags..

If I were faced with a spike rather than an airbag, I would be very careful with my driving indeed.

COMMENT 350098

2012-12-04 12:01 PM

Gnarly! Strange how we never learn. Start off stupid in our teen years -- and then speed up.

ROGER DODGER

2012-12-04 12:10 PM

It was a 2 car accident with heavy fog the other two did not see the other accident because of the heavy fog. One victim left his vehicle and got hit by another vehicle driving by.

COMMENT 350111

2012-12-04 12:19 PM

I find it interesting that the person/people that always has a big problem with pictures of car crashes isn't complaining about voyeurism and schadenfreude today. It seems like the only time he or she or they get upset about looking at wrecked cars is when the urban hikers post the pictures and the story. Which leads me to believe that whoever is complaining and attacking the urban hikers is from a local news outlet or outlets that don't get to post the urban hiker's pictures and stories. I have suspected that was the reason for the complaining and personal attacks, and now this just confirms my hunch. There is so much petty competition in the "news" business it's ridiculous

COMMENT 350125P

2012-12-04 12:41 PM

111, interesting conspiracy theory. Very plausible now that you bring it up...

COMMENT 350137

2012-12-04 12:58 PM

111: I am one of the people who doesn't particularly like all the UH's posts (many are fantastic, but when they show people's bodies, or are snapping pics as someone's home burns to the ground, well I tend to think less of those posts...). I think this post is definitely different. Images of the AFTERMATH of a horrific crash intrigue most of us. I personally would not have liked these photos if they were of the people being pulled from vehicles or loaded into ambulances (regardless of who took the photos). But this is the same stuff you'd see in a paper - aftermath pics.Some times I think they cross a line I'm not alone in that feeling. I'm not the person who complains of voyeurism, as I'm just fine with it - just not to the extent of showing images of people in dire situations. I think UHs sometimes fail to show any restraint when it comes to pics, and in that way they remind me more of paparazzi than photo journalists or people on the hunt for news.

COMMENT 350143

2012-12-04 01:06 PM

Restraint would be the editor's job, not the reporter's. I know this isn't a formal news organization, but that is historically where the winnowing happens. You should speak to the editor (distributor), rather than publicly criticize the collector.

ROGER DODGER

2012-12-04 01:22 PM

They have alot more restraint than some of you think. @111 Might be right I think many of UH Pictures are better quality than the real nudes industry..:)

COMMENT 350157P

2012-12-04 01:29 PM

The difference between the UHikers and the news agencies or in this case, fire dept release they are paid to be there and have to answer to someone whereas for the UH's its some type of hobby. I think their reports have continued to improve but I was offended at the start as it seemed to pursue their hobby they would intrude, however I have come to appreciate their reports and overcome the skepticism I initially felt about them. I always enjoyed their hiking and historical post they bring the same good information to their news ones.

COMMENT 350261

2012-12-04 05:44 PM

0083... That's right! Ban all forms of civilian transportation during inclement weather conditions.... close the darned roads down. People can't handle bad weather so they should be prohibited from going out in it except on foot. How fun would that be?

COMMENT 350274P

2012-12-04 06:13 PM

What I have never understood is why the CHP doesn't close these roads when fog rolls in like this?

COMMENT 350301

2012-12-04 07:03 PM

I drove on the pass in dense fog once. I had no choice and I and my unborn baby made it safely.

COMMENT 350319

2012-12-04 07:38 PM

A handful of people get into an accident during an unusually foggy time and all of a sudden you're calling for a bigger nanny state, 083 & 274P? How about you two just stay off the roads and let the big boys take responsibility for themselves. Dear gubment, save us from ourselves!

COMMENT 350320

2012-12-04 07:40 PM

This is now being reported as a DUI. Fog's one thing, drunks at 6am on a 2 lane 55mph road in the fog is another. Having been nearly killed by one when I was a kid, I have a real issue with DUI.

Feel worst for the good Sam who was helping to direct traffic and got hit.

COMMENT 350461

2012-12-05 10:05 AM

Anyone who has a driver's license in our state knows, and it is in the written test, when there us inclement weather, the posted speed limit ceases to be the legal limit. It becomes whatever us tge safest speed to drive, which may only be 5-10 mph. The CHP.determines the speed limit. In thick fog in this stretch, it is below 10 mph.

30% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

*** One comment was removed from this thread by the Edhat Board Nanny for violating Edhat Comments Board policy. Click Here to see it.